130 DRY ROT. 



even with these precautions, neither will such a floor nor one composed ot wood blocks be immune from 

 dry rot if it is continually being washed in a careless manner and the water allowed to soak into its joints. 

 Let it, however, be supposed that a spore has eluded our precautions, or, rather, has availed itself of some 

 fatal omission in them. On germinating, it sends out minute tubular thread-like growths, which penetrate 

 the cells of which timber is composed, feeding upon them, and in the process reducing them almost to 

 powder. If the air is damp and stagnant, as in cellars and under-floor spaces, the growth develops rapidly 

 on the outside as well as in the inside of the timber attacked, and the fungus will spread from its point of 

 origin in the most surprising way, until it may, if not checked, envelop a whole house. The reason why 

 it can do this is that, if, after it has once made a start, it is in contact with a source of moisture at any 

 part of its growth, and with timber, not necessarily damp, at any other part, it can pass on the fluid from 

 the one and the nutrient substances from the other to extend its growth in any direction. In this way 

 it will spread across materials like brickwork or glass, which afford it neither moisture nor nourishment, 

 until it again reaches woodwork. It will thus be seen that a whole house may be attacked by this insidious 

 fungus, even if the carpentry is dry, so long as at one point of its growth it is supplied with sufficient 

 moisture. Under such circumstances it will no longer manifest itself on the outside, but will permeate 

 the interior of beams, or joists, or the inner face of skirtings, so that these may still present the appearance 

 of being sound, while, in fact, they are rotten at the core. At length, even the exterior appears cracked, 

 warped and blistered, and the wood is by this time reduced practically to tinder. 



Sometimes, in chinks or corners of the building, or behind furniture, leathery corrugated patches 

 may be found covered with dust of a golden brown colour, from which an occasional drop of clear water, 

 like a tear, exudes, a circumstance which has given the fungus its specific name, &quot; lacrymans.&quot; This 

 is the fructification, or spore-bearing surface, corresponding to the gills of a mushroom. This brown 

 dust is seen, under the microscope, to consist of countless thousands of spores, each about one-three- 

 thousandth of an inch in diameter, so minute, in fact, as to be readily dispersed by the wind, yet each 

 one capable of producing a new fungus sufficient to wreck a building. &quot;When these brown patches are 

 discovered, they should be handled with extreme care so as not to disturb the &quot; dust,&quot; and should be 

 burnt instantly. If they are first soaked with paraffin, so much the better, as the spores will then be 

 prevented from dispersing and they will burn the more readily. All the timber that is infected should 

 be taken out and burnt on the spot without delay. It is a false economy to leave infected timber in the 

 building on the ground that it is not badly attacked, unless it be in such a position that it must always 

 in the future remain isolated from damp or any fungus that could convey damp to it, or unless it has been 

 most efficiently treated with some antiseptic. For this purpose corrosive sublimate dissolved in methylated 

 spirit may be used, although it should be remembered that this substance is an extremely deadly poison ; 

 or carbolic acid, or a hot wash of sulphate of copper (blue vitriol) may be substituted. Several substances 

 like carbolineum or solignum are also on the market. But the work must be efficiently done, and the wash 

 must not be restricted to timber, but brick walls, concrete, or the earth beneath the floors, which may, 

 and probably will, be permeated by the living fungus, must also be soaked. \V. H. BIDI.AKI:. 



